(
39 BBY –
4 ABY ) is a character from the ''
Star Wars '' Universe. He was one of the few
Imperial officers to appear in two ''Star Wars'' films (''
The Empire Strikes Back '' and ''
Return Of The Jedi '') (
Tarkin was among the others), the only one to have been played by the same actor twice, and was perhaps the only character in the entire trilogy to benefit from
Darth Vader 's propensity to summarily execute his officers for failures great and small. Piett was played by
Kenneth Colley .
Piett was born on the
Outer Rim world of Axxila. In the Imperial Navy, it is always important to have Deep Core connections. Officers from the Outer Rim rarely received an important
Strategic posting. When he joined the
Imperial Academy , Piett was the best in his class and when he
Graduated , he was already a lieutenant at age 26. After Piett was
Drafted into the
Imperial Starfleet , he commanded a fleet that patrolled his home sector. Vader later assigned Captain Piett to command the
Star Destroyer ''Accuser'', under
Admiral Griff . When Griff died at
Yavin 4 during the Rebel evacuation, Piett became captain of the Super Star Destroyer ''
Executor '' after its current commander,
Captain Ozzel , was promoted to admiral and took command of Vader's fleet.
Three years after the
Battle Of Yavin , Captain Piett and his command staff received a transmission from a probe droid in the
Hoth System that revealed the hidden
Rebel Alliance headquarters,
Echo Base . Piett ensured that Darth Vader was on the bridge before informing his superiors of this find; as he expected,
Admiral Ozzel dismissed it as something other than the Rebel base, only to be overruled by Vader. The dark lord wasted no time in dispatching his fleet, the
Death Squadron , to the Hoth system.
The fleet's exit point from
Hyperspace was close enough to the planet that the Rebels were able to detect it immediately, giving them time to raise an energy shield that would stop any orbital bombardment. Ozzel was swiftly killed by Vader for his incompetence and Piett was instantly promoted to admiral (crew members then started to bet on how long Piett had to live.) While
General Veers successfully captured the Rebel base, the ''
Millennium Falcon '' escaped. Vader ordered the fleet to pursue, even though the ''Falcon'' had entered a nearby
Asteroid field.
During the search for the ''Falcon'', the Star Destroyer ''Avenger'' found it, but it strangely vanished. The
Bounty Hunter Boba Fett , commissioned by Vader, realized that the ''Falcon'' was in fact secretly docked on the ''Avenger'', followed and reported its movements as it disengaged and limped over to
Bespin . While
Han Solo ,
Leia Organa , and
Chewbacca were being given a tour by
Lando Calrissian , Piett's
Engineer s deactivated the hyperdrive on the ''Falcon''. As the ''Falcon'' fled, it was nearly captured by the ''Executor's'' tractor beam, but
R2-D2 was able to reactivate the hyperdrive and the ''Falcon'' again escaped Imperial custody. Despite this failure, Piett was allowed to live by Vader. This was probably because, unlike Admiral Ozzel or Captain Needa, it was not due to a misjudgment on Piett's part that the ''Falcon'' escaped.
One year later, Piett commanded the Imperial fleet at the
Battle Of Endor . If Piett had been allowed to engage the Rebel fleet, his ships could have easily destroyed them. Instead, he was ordered by Palpatine to hold position and just keep the Rebels from escaping so they could be vaporized one by one by the second
Death Star 's superlaser. The
Emperor's plan backfired when the Rebels moved to attack the Star Destroyers at point-blank range. This action prevented the Death Star from firing on the Rebel ships for fear of destroying Imperial cruisers caught in the mix.
During the battle,
Admiral Ackbar ordered all Rebel ships to concentrate their fire on the ''Executor''. This concentrated fire temporarily knocked out the shields, allowing two
A-Wing s to destroy a shield generator dome on the ''Executor's'' bridge tower, lowering the shields protecting the bridge. In response to the lowering of the shields, Piett ordered the forward turbolaser batteries to intensify their firepower. It was too late, however; moments later, a disabled
A-wing piloted by
Arvel Crynyd made a
Kamikaze maneuver and flew right into the bridge as Admiral Piett and
Commander Gherant dived into the lower command deck. The destruction of the bridge and main navigation complex caused the ship's thrusters to misfire, sending it on a collision course with the Death Star. Before the crew could regain control from the secondary command center, the ''Executor'' crashed into the Death Star and exploded.
Piett's nephew, Captain Sarkli, also served at the Battle of Endor. He was killed while defending the shield command
Bunker on the forest moon.
- ''The Annotated Screenplays'', softcover, 1997. George Lucas , Leigh Brackett, Lawrence Kasdan, Laurent Bouzereau, ISBN 0-345-40981-7
- ''The Hutt Gambit'', 1st paperback printing, 1997. A. C. Crispin, ISBN 0-553-57416-7
- ''Inside the Worlds of the Star Wars Trilogy.''
